Round of Melodies
by Jeva
Summary: The past should have died with Spike that day, a year ago. As it turns out, Spike survived against his own will, and the past refuses to let him go. To defeat the past, Spike has to fight Fate and Destiny to find how the events of the past tie together...
1. Prologue

  
  
  
**Prologue**  
  
  
  
  
_

~There once was a tiger-striped cat~

_  
  
  
"Let's end it all," he said roughly, crouched down with his hand hovering over the fallen katana, looking up at his one-time friend while blood poured down his face, out of his shoulder, arms, and leg.  
  
"If that's your wish." He didn't have to look to know that the pale-haired man's foot kicked out at the same moment he tossed up the sword before diving for the gun, standing, and firing just as the blade slashed across his abdomen, staining itself red with the blood it spilt.  
  
  
  


_~This cat, having died more times than it should have, finally passed on many lives after the white, female cat~_

  
  
  
He didn't look up when he heard the _thud_ of the body hitting the floor. Holding his right arm over the gaping slash, he began to stagger to the stairs, vision blurring and hearing becoming deafened. Unaware for the moment of the group of men watching him from below, he made it to the center of the steps, smirking as he looked up.  
  
Blood. So much of it pooled in rivers before falling to the red carpet.  
  
Ignoring everything, he lifted his left hand and point his index finger at the men in the shape of a gun. This was the way it should be: his past dead and with him trailing behind.  
  
This was what he wanted...  
  
...to go out with a "Bang."  
  
And so he fell...  
  
  
  
_

~With the tiger-striped cat's death, the black dog and the black cat he had befriended in his last life remained, grieving...  
  
And then--~

_  
  
  
It was insane to go back. Being dead for over a year was the main reason. Being the one to leave them before he'd die was another. But they couldn't really hate him for it, could they? Had they understood his reasons? Why he had wanted to go the way he almost did?  
  
Gripping his left arm with his right hand, looking away from the seeming-offending limb, he continued his way toward the ship. There was no way around it. The past was buried, gone, hopefully never to return to haunt him; and perhaps, for the first time in a long time, he could live in the present, with a future he could go to.  
  
He grinned at his thoughts. Fate wouldn't allow him that pleasure, he knew, but he could damn well try for it.  
  
He was there. Standing on the deck, looking at the sun, ignoring everything around him. Jet Black. A suitable name for the elder man who acted a lot more tough than how he really was.  
  
He smirked slightly. If he approached Jet, he would get a nice punch in the eye, or maybe the jaw. Better than Faye Valentine shooting him on sight.   
  
And so, he approached the ship's deck carefully. Just as carefully, he climbed onto the ship and paused, watching Jet with cat-like curiosity that suited him as well as the name 'Black Dog' suited the man he watched.  
  
Nothing had changed, so it seemed, save for the new sag in the elder man's shoulders.  
  
He took a step forward.  
  
"Get off my ship." Jet's voice came out gruff and hard. "I don't care who you are. Just leave."  
  
He didn't move. He took a step forward--  
  
"What do you--?!" The former ISSP officer spun toward him angrily only to freeze and unconsciously inhale with surprise at who he saw before him.  
  
Giving a light half-hearted, tired smirk, he greeted his old friend. "Yo."  
  
  
  


_~--the cat came back...~_

  
  
  
  
  



	2. Session 1: Childhood Rhyme

  
  
  
  
**Session # 1**  
  
  
  
  
"So...is Jet Black really your real name?" It was a simple question, though it seemed odd for a recently-returned-from-the-dead man to ask his old friend. That was probably why it was suitable for one, Spike Spiegel, to ask it, especially since it had already been two weeks since his said resurrection(if it could be called that). In the two weeks since he had returned, Spike observed little changes in the manners he was treated: Jet greeting him with a punch in the jaw before taking him inside the _Bebop_ to have a 'long talk' and Faye avoiding him like he was a walking, talking disease. In fact, the woman with the known nick-name of Poker Alice had stayed in her room for over a day before taking off somewhere in her _Redtail_.  
  
...go figure.  
  
  
  


**||Childhood Rhyme||**

  
  
  
  
The question caught the elder man's attention. It was really one he never thought anyone would ask. "What?"  
  
Spike lounged on the couch, watching the ceiling for a moment before looking over at Jet with a bit of a smirk. He really didn't feel like smirking or even talking for that matter, but it was better than anything else, which is why he replied, "Well, your parents must have had a weird sense of humor."  
  
Jet frowned at him. "Hey, don't make fun of _my_ name," he said with a pointed look at the green-haired man who was sitting on _his_ yellow couch...though it might as well belonged to the one lounging on it... "You sound like you were named after the dog."  
  
Spike let out a breathy laugh and looked at the ceiling again. "Who says I was ever really named?"  
  
"Should have guessed," Jet replied, causing his partner to look back at him. "You're like Ed."  
  
Spike's face pulled itself into a partial-grimace, partial-frown, partial-smirk. "Ed?" he couldn't help but to ask dubiously.  
  
"Well, she gave herself her own name," Jet pointed out wiht a bit of amusement.  
  
Spike lowered his feet from their perch on the table and sat up slightly to give his partner a semi-serious look. "For your information," he said with a bit of a haughty tone, though it could have been mistaken for amusement, "I got my name from someone else, not myself." He pulled a cigarette from his pocket and stuck it between his lips. "I'm not like Ed."  
  
Just as he was going to light up, something red, tanned, and squealing ran by, causing the small flame produced by the lighter to go out. The one holding the lighter blinked in confusion, not realising why it had gone out until a tanned face with amber eyes stuck itself in his face, grinning like the devil.  
  
"Hello!" the creature shouted, making Spike jump in surprise and Jet chuckle at the actions. It was only Edward Wong Hau Pepeluisko--oh whatever. It was only Ed. "Spike-person called? Balled? Falled...?"  
  
Spike sighed, regaining his composure. "No, Ed."  
  
The answer just didn't seem to register, though. "...sawed, gnawled..."  
  
"Hm..." Jet said with amusement, "I wonder how long she'll go on."  
  
Spike lit his lighter again. "Probably until--"  
  
Ed haulted in her listing of words, cocking her head to the side; and with much of the bewilderment of the two men, she grinned again and rushed off, extinquishing the lighter once more with her passing. Spike looked at the dead lighter and gave up, tossing it onto the table as the hyper-active thirteen--maybe twelve?--year-old heathen-child shouted, "Faye-Faye!"  
  
Then Spike heard it. The _click-click_ of her boots. He groaned mentally. "Great."  
  
There was a sound of someone running to someone else, and then the sound of a body hitting the floor.   
  
Then she spoke, "Why is the kid...smelling my shoe?"  
  
"Don't ask me," Spike answered without looking over, the cigarette still sitting on its perch though it served no purpose if it wasn't lit.  
  
"Oooooooooh!" shouted Ed with a lot of enthusiam. "Faye-Faye been bad-bad girl! Went to grassy place, hm?"  
  
Jet looked over at the scene with a confused look, though Spike didn't see why he would be confused. "Races, Faye?"  
  
"Hey, it was my money," Faye replied with an indignant tone.   
  
"Ewwwwwwwwww..." Ed suddenly exclaimed, making Spike look over to see the red-headed girl on the ground, near Faye's shoe, while Faye was looking exasperated and about ready to kick the strange hacker-kid, who merely proceeded to stick her face even closer to the left shoe. "Is that poo?"  
  
Spike could almost see the vein in her forehead showing as her eye twitched. "Ugh!" she shouted, kicking out. "Get away, Ed!"  
  
Somehow--it was hard to see how it was possible--the wild girl leapt out of striking rang, flipping backwards onto her hands and then jumping to her feet, running off and squealing with laughter. "Whoopah! Ein! Oh, Eiiiiiin!"  
  
The three Bounty Hunters just stared at where the girl had exited the room in just plain wonderment before Faye walked off toward her room--probably to lock herself in it--and Jet and Spike went back to what they were doing before. In other words: Spike reclining on the couch with the unlit cigarette between his lips and Jet looking around the net for any news.  
  
They were silent for a moment.  
  
_Click_.  
  
"Yep, I was right," Jet said, closing one net page and going to another.  
  
"Didn't we go over this already?" Spike asked, looking over to him with a small frown, still not liking the idea of being compared to the freaky girl that could have been mistaken for a boy if it wasn't for the fact that they _knew_ she was a girl.  
  
Jet frowned at the screen he was looking at before closing off of the net and looking over to his partner with curiosity. "Well, if you didn't name yourself, who did?" he asked.  
  
Spike looked away from Jet, back toward the ceiling, blowing an inaudible sigh. "Someone I knew," he answered, looking as though he really didn't want to remember whoever the person was. "Happy?"  
  
Jet frowned again, hearing the tone his partner was using. It was the tone he always used whenever he was asked questions that related to his past. It was a tone that gave the impression that the subject should be dropped and should never be brought up again. So, just as always, Jet replied with a simple, "Not especially, but I'll let it go."  
  
Spike seemed to like this arrangement because he actually gave a small grin and said without looking back over, "Good."  
  
Again there was a moment of silence in which Jet got back onto the net, clicking around to see if there was any Bounty tips. Things were a little bit harder now since _Big Shot_ had been cancelled--something that still didn't make any sense to the Bounty Hunters of the galaxy.  
  
"Spike?" Jet finally asked, not looking up from the screen.  
  
"Hm?"  
  
There was a brief pause before the ex-ISSP officer said something that was slightly out-of-character for him to say, "Sorry."  
  
Brow furrowing, the tall, lanky, green-haired man on the old yellow couch looked over to him with mild confusion. "For what?" he asked, not understanding why Jet was the one apologizing.   
  
It should have been the other way 'round, right?  
  
The elder man sighed, rubbing his temple with his real hand. "Trying to get you to talk about your past." Spike sat up a bit at the confession--if that's what it was. "I already know a small part of it, and it was awful." Jet looked over to the younger man seriously. "I don't mean to bring back painful memories for you or something."  
  
Spike chewed on the end of his cigarette for a moment, looking away as he felt slightly guilty for making the older man apologize when they both knew fairly well who should have been the one to apologize. "Hey," he said lightly, still not looking back over, "it was fair. I pestered you about _your_ name."  
  
Naturally, Jet didn't know what his partner was thinking and must have mistaken his movements and tone for something else. "Still," he said, lowering his hand and smiling a bit, "I feel bad about it."  
  
"Don't sweat it, Jet," Spike insisted, taking the cigarette from its perch and studying it intently. "Sure it was one big melodrama, but..." He flicked the cigarette into the nearest thing resembling a garabage can, "my past _does_ include some happy moment, you know."  
  
"Such as?" The guy's curiosity was really getting the better of him, if he was first apologizing and then asking more questions about what he had apologized for.  
  
"...well..." Spike drawled.  
  
"That's not including the one's that fell apart in the end," Jet put in with some seriousness.  
  
Spike frowned. "Well, damn..." He looked up at the ceiling once more to ponder over memories. "I guess that leaves at least two things."  
  
"What are those?"  
  
Spike smirked a little, closing his eyes thoughtfully. "The times I was too young to remember and, well..." He opened his eyes and looked over to Jet. "You guys, I guess."  
  
Jet frowned. "No others besides those?"  
  
Now the question was rewarded with a full, typical, semi-mysterious, semi-annoying smirk. "They're all you're getting out of me today."  
  
Jet grunted, turning back to the screen, still searching for a Bounty. "You're still the vaguest person I've _ever_ met," he informed his partner.  
  
Spike gave a look of surprise. "Am I?" He chuckled. "I thought someone would take that title when I was gone."  
  
"Nope." Jet looked over the screen for a moment, a puzzle look on his face, before going back to what he was doing. "You still take the cake."  
  
"Speaking of cake," Spike commented, turning in the couch so he could lie down. "when's dinner?"  
  
Jet sighed. It was the most casual thing that could be asked, which was why the younger man asked it. "After I go out for a few hours," the elder man answered, shutting down the net once more before standing.  
  
"For what?"  
  
Jet looked over to his partner for a moment, noticing that the green-haired man once again had his eyes closed. "You keep your secrets," he said, walking over to the hanger, "and I'll keep mine."  
  
"Fair enough," Spike replied with a smirk. "See you then, Jet."  
  
"Sure thing," Jet responded with a bit of a smile, pausing only a slight second as if he was still getting used to saying what he then said, "Spike."  
  
  
  
It was an odd type of silence--one rarely heard or enjoyed on the ship--even though it had been punctuated by Ed's activities in the back of the hall as she had played with Ein, who had tried and failed several times to escape the little red-headed girl's hyperness when it had became too much for him to bare. While this occurred, however, the lanky man on the couch ignored it all, lying on the yellow couch and staring at the familiar ceiling fan with his mismatched eyes. Just stared and followed one of the blades idly with his eyes, reflecting on the past conversations he had had with his...friends.   
  
True enough, they were all confused by him(it wasn't everyday that a guy came back from the 'dead' and act as though nothing had happened even though a whole, long year had passed before he got the nerve to do such a thing). True enough, they were all stepping on eggshells around him, trying to find out more of what had happened and find out about more of himself while trying not to get him upset with them. True enough, he admired their attempts but was becoming quickly reminded of why he had waited so long until he had returned to the _Bebop_.   
  
It had taken him a whole year to pull himself together enough to even look the crew in the face, let alone living with them again--which had taken him by _total_ surprise, by the way. Perhaps he didn't do such a good job at doing the 'pulling together.' He had the scars to prove it.  
  
At that thought, he lifted his left arm and looked at it for a moment, just staring. A small shifting noise caught his attention and he casually slid the hand behind his head and under the other, looking back up at the fan. A small _thwump_ told him that the woman that had remained onboard with him and the crazy kid named Edward had flopped down in the chair next to the couch. A _tink_ told him that she was either drinking something or had something glass in her hands.  
  
He assumed the former.  
  
"I find it odd," Faye finally spoke up after a moment of comfortable silence.  
  
There was a drawn-out silence in which Spike wondered if she was finished locking herself in her room before he sighed and gave the expected reply, "What?"  
  
He listened as the young woman shifted in her seat, sinking deeper into the comfortable folds of the furniture.  
  
"That it's so quiet in here." That brought the oh-so-common smirk onto his face, and he gave her an equivallent of a shrug.  
  
"Ed's passed out on the refrigerator--" He could hear Ein's whining from the kitchen and Ed's snores and occassion 'wack' of her hands hitting the metal machine. "--and Jet's out."  
  
The woman seemed satisfied with the answer for the moment and settled more into her chair, giving Spike more silence to think in. It was odd, actually. Just how Faye had said. Only, the silence itself wasn't odd; it was odd how it was more comfortable to be in than the constant talking with a person--namely, Jet or Faye. Ed...well...Ed was Ed and probably only took in half of what everyone said.  
  
_'No, no, no!'_ a voice in the back of his mind shouted in annoyance, taking on the tone of someone he had once known. _'You never listen do you? You always listen to half of what was said, leaving the rest to imagination! Will you _listen_ for once?'_  
  
Hm...maybe Jet was more right than he thought. Maybe--in a distant, totally non-related, _really_ twisted way--they were _slightly_ alike. A _thud_ from the kitchen made him wince before sighing and looking exasperatedly at the ceiling.   
  
Maybe not...  
  
"What's your excuse?" Faye asked, breaking the silence and causing Spike to shift his head to look over at her. She was leaned against the back and the edge of the chair, legs crossed and dangling off the other end, with one hand propping her chin up in a bored fashion, and the other holding a glass of liquid. For a moment, he pondered what over her question before realizing she was referring to her old topic.  
  
"I'm thinking," he said simply, looking back at the ceiling fan, and lazily watched as the blades swished in circles.  
  
"Oh?" she asked, sounding the least bit curious. "You can do that?"  
  
Everyday bickering.  
  
"Unlike you."  
  
Faye snorted none-too-lady-like. "Very funny." She paused. "So...what are you thinking about?"  
  
Spike gave her a slight shrug. "Events."  
  
"That all?"  
  
Here there was a lengthy pause. One that Spike knew would alert the female Bounty Hunter that there was something more to this silence than she had thought. He knew this but continued to let the void of sound continue for a moment longer. "...people," was the eventual answer.  
  
"A girl?" The question was asked almost immediately,.  
  
"No," he answered dully.  
  
"Not Julia?" she questioned with surprise.  
  
"No." This time his tone was annoyance and exasperation. She just had to assume that, didn't she? Oh, sure. It wasn't like he went a year pulling himself together, struggling to pull himself out of the state he had been in when...  
  
"Hm..." she murmured quietly, knowing to back off of _that_ topic. "Who then?"  
  
Spike lowered his left hand and turned toward the back of the couch, closing his eyes. "None of your business, Valentine."  
  
A pause. "Fine."  
  
And then, once again, there was silence. A comfortable, relaxing presence that was beginning to beckon him to slumber...  
  
And he would have easily fallen asleep, if the soft sound of humming hadn't floated to his hearing. Curious, yet annoyed, Spike listened to it for a moment before asking, "What is that?"  
  
The humming stopped and Faye responded with annoyance and slight anger, "What? You're gonna tell me I'm off-key again?" Spike turned himself over and watched her patiently as she glared at him with flashing green eyes. "Well, screw it," she said, turning her nose into the air, "I _like_ this song, and I'll sing it if I want to--!"  
  
"Seriously," Spike interrupted blantantly. "Don't get so defensive. I was curious."  
  
The purple-haired woman looked back down at him, eyes softening as she realized that he was, in fact, being serious. "I don't know it very well," she confessed, "but I like the rhythm."  
  
Again Spike shrugged, turning back toward the back of the couch. "Okay."  
  
This time the pause wasn't nearly as long as the others. "So what are you thinking about now?"  
  
Spike restrained a groan of frustration as he was once again prevented from taking a small cat-nap. "Nursery rhymes," he answered without really thinking.  
  
"What?"  
  
He chuckled a little as he realized what he had said and then replied thoughtfully, "I don't think I've heard very many."  
  
"Okay..." Faye said slowly as he turned back toward her. "This is random."  
  
"Not really," Spike said, sitting up with a small yawn.   
  
"Well, I think it is," Faye responded, crossing her arms before Spike stretched his above his head, stifling a yawn. Figuring he wouldn't get any sleep, he then turned in his couch, letting his feet touch the floor.  
  
"Well?" he asked, searching his pockets for his cigarettes only to see a hand dangle it in his face. He snatched at them and managed to get them before they got tugged away. "Do you remember any?"  
  
Faye hesitated as she sat back in her seat, the now-smoking cancer-stick between her fingers. "Yes...I've got most of my memories back, so I remember some from when I was little."  
  
Spike nodded slightly, elbows on his knees as he lit up, a cloud of smoke rising as he inhaled and then exhaled. "So tell me one," he said, tossing the pack onto the table.   
  
"Um..." murmured the Huntress thoughtfully. "'Hey Dittle-Dittle'? No...wait...you don't like cats, or animals for that matter, do you?"  
  
"Do a lot of them have animals?" he asked from around his cigarette as he leaned back in his seat, arms behind his head.  
  
"Kind of."  
  
Spike rolled his eyes. "Then just pick one."  
  
"Okay," Faye said as she sat up and put her own elbows on her knees. "Let's see...Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall/Humpty Dumpty had a great fall/All the King's horses and all the King's men/Couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again."  
  
When she looked up she was surprised to see that Spike was staring at her with semi-wide eyes and his cigarette was slipping from its perch between his lips. It fell and quickly got him to snap out of whatever it was that he was in. Snubbing out the smoke, he demanded, "What the hell was that? They make up songs about a guy bashing their head in when they fall off a wall?"  
  
"No!" Faye shouted, almost laughing at his expression.  
  
"That's traumatizing for a child to hear!" Spike continued, giving her an accusing look.  
  
"You don't get it," she said with a small snicker. "Humpty Dumpty's supposed to make kids think about eggs, I think. You know, you can't put one back together after it hits the ground."  
  
Spike blinked in confusion. "So Humpty Dumpty's an egg?"  
  
"That's what I've seen him as," Faye answered with a shrug. "None of the nursery rhymes have any real meaning. Just nonsense like...'Little Boy Blue.'"  
  
"Huh?" He had no clue what she was going on about.  
  
"Little Boy Blue come blow your horn," Faye began to recite, smiling a little as she recalled the silly rhymes. "The sheep's in the meadow, the cows' in the corn/Where's the Little Boy who looks after the sheep?/He's under the haystack fast asleep."  
  
The tall, green-haired man stared at her for a moment before managing to say, "Maybe I shouldn't try to even listen to these. There's too much Earth references."  
  
Faye considered this. "That's true...wait." She sat up straight, thinking for a moment. "I think I know one that doesn't have much of an Earth reference."  
  
Now Spike was curious again. "What is it?"  
  
This time there wasn't even a hesitation. "It's raining, it's pouring/The old man is snoring/He bumped his head/And he went to bed/And he couldn't get up in the morning."  
  
The smirk came onto his face without him even thinking about it. "That sounds suiting for Mars at times," he said before thinking about it. "Minus the old man."  
  
"Yeah, replace him with a drunk guy," Faye said with a smirk of her own, which only caused Spike's to diminish somewhat.   
  
"Or..." he began to say, but decided against it as he leaned back into the couch, his eyes closed.  
  
Faye paused. "Maybe these kind of songs aren't very cheerful right now," she commented before the sound of the liquid in the glass she held being swished around filled the air. "Most of them come from sad comings anyway."  
  
"Really?" Spike asked without too much enthusiam. Most of it had left with his own mentioning of Mars.  
  
"'Ring Around the Rosie' and 'London Bridge' for example," the Huntress answered. ""Ring Around the Rosie' was a song people sung so they wouldn't get the Plague, a disease in the old days." Again there was a moment of nothing but the sound of the liquid swishing in the glass. "'London Bridge' is about how a bridge in England that kept falling into the river."  
  
Spike opened an eye to look at her curiously. "Kids liked these songs?" he asked, dubiously.  
  
"They were games to them," Faye responded with a sigh. "Like they understood why the songs were made."  
  
Neither were prepared for yet another entrance made by the hyper-active hacker as she rolled into the room. Literally, not figuratively. She had her legs tucked into her chest and her arms wrapped over her legs and was _rolling_ head over heels to the table before sitting up.  
  
"Ed hears 'London Briiiiiiiiidddddddddddddgggggggggggggggeeeeeeeeeeeee!" she shouted, making both adults blink at her.  
  
Faye was the first to snap out of it as she smiled somewhat-excitedly at Ed. "You know 'London Bridge' and how to play?"  
  
Ed nodded with a little too much enthusiam for Spike's taste before shouting, "Play, stay, 'kay!"  
  
Faye set her glass onto the table, catching Spike's attention as she stood. "Great," she said before smirking in the lanky man's direction with a malicious glint in her eye. "Let's teach the lunkhead how to play it."  
  
"I'd rather not," Spike said nonchalant, though the look she gave him was making him wonder if she was still upset at him for coming back to the _Bebop_ after being 'dead' for a year.  
  
"Oh, but it's easy, Lunkhead--" Second time of using that horrible nick-name. Couldn't be a mistake. Yep, she was still sore about it. "--What's the matter? Embarrassed that you'd look like a little kid?"  
  
"Hell, yes," was the expected answer, though it was really because he wanted to stay as far from Faye as he could get. Who knows? She might have been armed.  
  
"How 'bout 'Ring Around the Rosie'?" she suggested, still giving him that evil look.  
  
Having the new knowledge of where the song had come from was the key reason that he then answered, "No."  
  
"Ed likes Rosie!" Ed said, waving a hand into the air to get their attention, but was--for the most part--ignored as one adult was looking at the other with a murderous expression and the one that was on the receiving end of the look wondered if she had her Glock with her.  
  
Spike, however, did gesture over to the red-head. "And _that's_ why." He gave Faye a narrowed-eyed look, not allowing her to get away with her threatening look. "I hate kids," he reminded her pointedly, crossing his arms. "Why act like one?"   
  
He had just gotten up from his spot on the couch when he heard her response, "Because you never were one?"  
  
Spike froze and he knew by doing that he had given her the advantage. "...don't talk about things you don't know, Valentine," he told her lowly, covering his irritation.  
  
"But aren't I right?" Faye's tone was innocent, but her meaning was anything but that.  
  
There was a moment of silence before Spike reached over and grabbed his blue jacket, slinging it over his right shoulder and walking off with his left hand in his pocket. "I don't owe you anything."  
  
When he had escaped Faye's view, he paused to listen to what the woman would say. Surprisingly, Faye's voice just gave a sigh and asked, "So much for that, right, Ed?"  
  
Snorting for a moment, he continued on toward his room, which he normally wouldn't have gone to. All the way there, he could hear Ed singing, "Ring around the rosie-rosie!/Pockets full of posie-posie!/Ashes! Ashes!/We all fall down!"  
  
  
  
  
_**Coming Episode:**_  
  
  
  
  
Spike: Yeah, things are starting all over again. Makes you wonder if there's a point to this...  
  
Faye: Of course there's a point.  
  
Spike: Well, what is it then?  
  
Jet: Maybe we should just wait for the next part.  
  
Spike: That's just boring--  
  
Faye: Hey, waiting for you to come back was boring.  
  
Spike: Waiting for a more witty comment from you is boring.  
  
Faye: Why you--!  
  
Jet: Don't fight...  
  
Spike: Next episode: Bounty Jam. Hm...makes you wonder about the point of the title, doesn't it?  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
_Author's Notes:_ Eh...yeah, this doesn't have much of anything. It's just something to get the story going. Actually, if you keep in mind what you've read in this session, it'll be useful when later sessions are posted ^.^" I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I know it's not written in a standard form. It's kind of written like Spike's telling it from a third-person perspective. Not all of this story's going to be from Spike's POV. It'll be amongst the whole _Bebop_ crew. Hope you all will stick around for the later sessions! Until next time! Ja~! ^.~!  
  
_Notes:_ I'm almost sure about the pasts behind the nursery rhymes mentioned. If I'm mistakened, please inform me. ^.^' Thanks! ^.~! 


	3. Session 2: Bounty Jam

  
  
  
  
  
**Session # 2**  
  
  
  
  
"Okay, Faye, where's the body?" was the first thing Jet asked as he walked into the living area of the *Bebop*, arms full of groceries. Faye, having taken the couch that had been long-vacated by Spike, looked up from a magazine she had been reading over.   
  
"Hm?" she asked curiously as Jet walked over to the kitchen. "Oh, you mean the lunkhead. He locked himself in his room."  
  
Having gotten his answer while he was in the kitchen, Jet had to lean back to look back at her with a puzzled look. "Is he sick or something?" he asked with more curiosity than worry.  
  
"Don't think so." Faye tossed the magazine onto the table, stood, and went into the kitchen, searching the groceries. "Is there meat in there?" she questioned, digging out a pack of bellpeppers and wincing.  
  
"Yeah, look." Jet pulled out a package from a bag and tossed it to her.  
  
Her eye twitched. "Tofu isn't meat, Jet," she informed him, tossing it back at him, upset that they would go yet another long while without real meat. How long had it been since she had eaten anything with meat anyway? Jet ignored her as he studied the package and scratched his head.  
  
"Must have grabbed the wrong thing," he muttered before staring at it for a moment longer and shrugging. "Ah, beef was too pricy anyway."  
  
Faye sighed, leaning against the wall, crossing her arms over her slim frame. "Great," she muttered with a frown.  
  
  
  
  


**||Bounty Jam||**

  
  
  
  
  
"So what'd you and Ed do to drive him in his room?" Jet asked when he had finished puzzling over how he had mistaken tofu for beef. Faye hadn't moved from her spot on the wall and merely shrugged in reply to the question. Only a look from Jet was able to make her sigh and relenquish an answer as she studied her nails.  
  
"Tried to teach him a game," she said, her head titling to the side as her expression slowly became thoughtful. "He got pissed about something I said and left."  
  
Confused at why this would cause Spike to retreat to his actual room, as it had never occurred before, Jet immediately asked, "What'd you say?"  
  
Faye gained a sly look as one side of her lips tilted upward and her green eyes looked over to the side, as if they were trying to see behind her. "You know," she said lightly with a bit of a drawl as she stood up and away from the wall, arms still crossed, though this time higher on her chest. "I think I'll be nice for once and not say anything."  
  
She exited the kitchen, walking straight into the living room before pausing and, after a quick look behind her, slowly, quietly making her way back toward the kitchen, listening closely as she pressed up against the wall beside the entrance. Just as she had thought. Spike had been doing just what she was doing while she and Jet were talking. He thought he was so sneaky...  
  
"She gets weirder everyday," Spike's voice said lazily, offhandedly, as though he was talking about the weather.  
  
Jet's voice came with a very small chuckle that wouldn't have been noticed if you didn't know Jet. "Same for you," he said before pausing for a moment. "So...willing to tell me what you two said while I was out?"  
  
"No." Faye couldn't help but to shake her head at the blunt answer. The prize for the bluntest reply should go to Spike.  
  
"Damn..." Jet said half-heartedly, "I need security cameras or something."  
  
There was a sigh, and it wasn't from Jet. "Forget it, Jet. It wasn't anything important."  
  
Faye frowned as Jet then replied, "Faye said it got you pissed off."  
  
Here, Spike's tone took on an slightly annoyed tone, "Yeah, well, Faye Valentine doesn't know me very well, does she?"  
  
Just then, Ed came racing into the living room, signalling that Faye would have to move from her listening spot to find another one. "Vroooooooooooom!" shouted the wild red-head. "Bounty Head! Bounty Head! Jet-person! Spike-person!"  
  
"Hold on, Ed," Jet called as Faye quickly hid in the hall, as it would have looked positively ridiculous to hide behind the couch.  
  
"Ah," said Spike as he walked out of the kitchen behind Jet, rubbing his hands as he then sat down on the yellow couch with Jet sitting in the chair across from the couch, "a Bounty. Just what I need."  
  
"Edward is holding!" Ed cried from her position on top of the stairs that lead to the hangar. Faye looked over and nearly fell over as she saw the position Ed had chosen to 'hold' in. One leg wildly up in the air, one arm out in front of her, the other behind her, her second leg being her only support though she was merely on her tip-toes, and her head was balancing _Tomato_ precariously, wabbling as she shook with the effort of keeping still.  
  
Jet sighed as he also looked over. "Ed, start moving again before you pull a muscle or something."  
  
"Wait a minute, Jet," Spike objected before studying the small girl thoughtfully. "She's better this way."  
  
Faye felt like hitting the lunkhead in the head.  
  
"Ignore Spike, Ed," Jet said, frowning disapprovingly at his partner as Ed hopped over to the two of them. "Put the computer here."  
  
Ed took the computer from her head and spun around. "Tomato! Tomato! Spadae-NATO!" she sang before tossing the computer onto the table.  
  
Jet didn't say anything as it slid up to him, his fingers already above the keyboard before it settled completely in front of him. Spike looked to the older man with a semi-bored expression. "So who's this Bounty? Probably just another--"  
  
Ed came up behind Jet, who had obviously been accessing certain files on the Bounty, and spun the computer around to face Spike. "Taa-daa! Antoni Bevelt!" she announced proudly before Jet turned the computer screen back toward himself.  
  
"Hm..." he murmured thoughtfully as he studied the profile, "illegal seller of IDs and Social Security passes. Wanted for fraud, a case of second-degree murder, and affiliation with--_Spike_!" He looked up angrily at his partner, who had slammed the laptop closed, before freezing and losing his angry expression.   
  
Spike's expression looked deadly.   
  
"Forget this Bounty, Jet," he said coolly, his face like stone.   
  
Faye blinked in surprise, remembering the expression from the conversations she had had with him that clearly meant that the topic should not be taken any farther.  
  
"Spike--" Jet objected as Spike began to stalk away, toward the back of the ship, which was--luckily--not in the direction Faye was at.  
  
"I said: _forget_ about it," Spike interrupted loudly and would've been yelling if it wasn't for the fact that it had been spoken in a cool, though harsh, tone.  
  
Jet and Ed were quiet for a moment before Ed said lowly, "Ed no think Spike-person like Bounty Head-person."  
  
Jet then sighed, rubbing his forehead. "On the contrary, Ed. I think he does and therein lies the problem."  
  
"And you said he had a heavier mask on," Faye said, coming out of her hiding place. Jet didn't do anything save give her a quick glance.  
  
"And I still stay to that," he replied firmly.  
  
Faye rolled her eyes. "I don't," she stated before seating herself on the once-again-vacated couch. "I just think he's moody, and I think I know why." She pulled out a cig and a lighter and lit up, looking thoughtful.  
  
Jet gave her a dubious look. "Why?"  
  
Faye cocked her head slightly. "How much is this information worth?" she asked with a grin.  
  
"A place to sleep at night."  
  
She considered it. "...sorry, won't cut it." She stood and walked off toward her room.  
  
"Women," she heard Jet mutter, "and it doesn't help that Spike's pissed at _me,_ too."  
  
"Edward save the day!" Ed cried proudly. "Jet-person is not lonely!"  
  
  
  
  
"Decided to come out again?" her feminine voice questioned lightly as he sat on his couch, leaning back with his hands above his head and ignoring her. It wasn't as though she had been asking an innocent question. Faye Valentine didn't do 'innocent.' Plus, at the moment, Spike really wasn't in the mood to bicker with her.  
  
Faye, however, apparently did. "Are you 'thinking' again?"  
  
"What's it to you?" he asked dully, not really wanting to speak to her but knowing if he didn't answer, she'd never leave him alone.  
  
"Nothing, actually," she replied just as lightly as she had asked her first question. He rolled his eyes and stared up at the ceiling, pondering over the Bounty that Ed had found a few hours ago. Faye's curiosity got the best of her, "So, Spike, what have you been moody about lately?"  
  
"None of your business."  
  
"Hm...you're right," she agreed, making him to blankly look to her for a moment. "It's not." She stood from her seat on the yellow chair across from the couch and stretched her arms high above her for a moment; an action which would have caused any man to come to feel certain 'feelings.' Spike, however, ignored her behavior and looked back up at the ceiling to avoid those 'feelings.'   
  
Faye huffed after she had finished her stretch, and Spike looked at her in bored curiosity as she sniffed haughtily, "Don't ask me any favors in the future, Spiegel. You blew your chance here."  
  
For a brief moment, the thought of taking her comment and twisting out-of-context came and then went. "Why should I tell you anything?" he asked suspiciously. "You'd probably sell the information, knowing you."  
  
"O' ye of little faith," she retorted as she flung herself back into the folds of the yellow chair. "How 'bout this: I tell you something; you tell me something."  
  
A silence descended upon them.  
  
"Why the hell are you doing this?" he asked, exasperated.  
  
Faye smirked, ignoring his need to be left alone once more. "One of the things I remember my dad doing. He was a psychiatrist--oops, that was my information, wasn't it? Your turn then."  
  
Spike blinked and then sighed, looking up at the ceiling. How the hell did she always trap him like that? There would be times whenever she did something like that and he would ignore it, but then he'd go back and do something to make it even. It was a weird honor thing or something that he just seemed to need to do. It happened whenever people helped him, was nice to him, gave him information about themselves...   
  
Perhaps it was that if he didn't, he'd feel guilty. Yeah, that was it. He didn't like to feel guilty.  
  
"...I don't know anything about my parents," Spike eventually muttered after a long pause, grudgingly relenquishing the information Faye sought.  
  
"See?" she said with false cheerfulness. "That wasn't too bad."  
  
Spike sighed. "I need a cigarette."  
  
"Okay, my turn then." Faye thought for a moment before stating, "I started smoking when I was in high school."  
  
Spike looked at her incredulously. "I thought you started when you were unfrozen."  
  
"Good. Don't tell Jet any different, either," she said, giving him a threatening look.  
  
He ignored the look. "Well..." He paused for a moment, his mind quickly thinking of a way to end the question-answer session...thing he was stuck in. "I guess I started when I was...fourteen? Twelve? I dunno...I might have been ten," he responded, brow furrowing in thought as he considered how to tactfully tell Faye to end the session, though it could have been mistaken for confusion about what year it had been.  
  
Now it was Faye's turn to give him a skeptical look. "All right...let's see--"  
  
"You know," Spike interrupted smoothly, "I don't need a psychiatrist."  
  
So much for tact.   
  
Screw it. Who uses tact anyway?  
  
"I think you do," Faye responded with a frown, obviously knowing that Spike wanted to stop the conversation.  
  
"If I do, I'll see a _real_ one." He got up from the couch and pulled out a cigarette, sticking it between his lips before muttering, "Just stop trying to dig into my past, all right?"  
  
As he lit up, Faye said with a mocking tone, "And I thought you weren't chained to your past anymore."  
  
Spike inhaled and exhaled, smoke curling upward to the ceiling, before giving her a steady look. "I never said whether I was or I wasn't, but you're lucky," he said and began to walk off, his left hand in his pocket.  
  
"Why?" questioned Faye behind him curiously.  
  
Spike smirked, his cigarette dangling between his teeth. "Well," he said lightly, looking over his shoulder at her, "I told you two more things about me that Jet doesn't know."  
  
She stared at him. "_That's_ something to be proud of?"   
  
A low chuckle escaped him, though he hadn't meant to laugh, hadn't _felt_ like laughing. "Don't try to understand me, Faye. Just let me be the way I am."   
  
He was on top of the steps toward the hangar when he heard Faye mutter angrily to herself, "Ugh! I _hate_ it when he weasels out of stuff!"  
  
  
  
  
"You put her up to it, didn't you?"  
  
"Oh, please." Jet looked up from his work on the _Hammerhead_ and gave his partner a mild glare. "Why the hell would I count on _Faye_ to get me information?"  
  
There was a brief pause. "...good point," Spike muttered before he sighed lightly and leaned against the _Hammerhead_'s side as Jet went back to his work. "So what's going on?"  
  
"Getting ready for a Bounty Ed found," the elder Bounty Hunter answered as he finished up whatever he had been doing and pulled himself up from the ground.  
  
"Jet..." Spike gave him a warning look.  
  
"Listen, Spike," Jet said, tossing a rag that he had been wiping his hands off with onto his shoulder and giving the younger man an even look. "I know you know this guy from somewhere, but I can't just ignore him. He's an outlaw, and he's worth twelve million woolong--"  
  
"All this for _money_?" demanded Spike and, when Jet didn't reply, kicked at the ship he was leaned against angrily. "Damn it, Jet, I can't just let you do this."  
  
Jet ignored the underlying anger that laced his partner's voice as he simply said, "I knew you wouldn't. Ed!"  
  
Spike opened his mouth to speak but paused before reaching to feel at his nexk. "What the hell?" he questioned before looking at the ex-ISSP officer. "Jet, what are you--!" His shout cut off as he took a step forward, stumbling slightly. " ...damn it..."  
  
"For you own good, Kid," Jet said, grabbing a hold of the now-unsteady Bounty Hunter. "Trust me."  
  
"Damn it..." Spike muttered feeling at his neck again. "Jet, don't--"  
  
"Don't tell me what to do," Jet said with a bit of reprimanding tone before he continued to lead the younger man out of the hangar. "You're lucky I chose to use the six-hour tranq."  
  
By the time Jet and Spike reached the living room area, Spike was out of it and Jet had the younger man slung over his shoulders. Faye, who had been sitting in the yellow chair looked up from whatever the hell she was doing and rose a delicate eyebrow at the elder man as he placed Spike onto the couch. "What's wrong with him?" she asked with a bit of curiosity.  
  
Jet grunted, "Passed out."  
  
Faye nodded slightly before turning her attention back to what she had been doing. "So what else is new?"  
  
"Keep an eye on him, Faye," Jet said as he began to head back toward the hangar. "He shouldn't be up for a while, but just in case--"  
  
"Got it covered," Faye interrupted before pausing, "though I don't know _why_ I'm playing baby-sitter."  
  
She gave him a side-way glance.  
  
"I'm going after a Bounty and Ed's coming along," was the simple answer.  
  
Faye gained an 'ah' look, understanding that she wasn't invited to go to catch the Bounty, which was happening more and more lately. "Fine," she said, ignoring this fact. "Have fun."  
  
"Be careful," Jet warned with an amusingly serious expression. "He's going to be mad as hell when he wakes up."  
  
Faye just smiled slightly. "Again: so what else is new?"  
  
  
  
  
"Ed. Start looking for any places where Bevelt would be."  
  
"Aye, aye, Mon Capiiiiiiii-tan!" the young child hacker shouted loudly, immediately clicking keys and intently studying the computer screen. Jet sighed, still feeling slightly guilty for going after this Bounty. Spike hadn't wanted him to go after Bevelt for some reason...  
  
He shook his head. "Sorry, Spike, but the past is the past and it shouldn't affect the present," he said firmly, not really realizing he was talking to himself.  
  
"Ed found him!"  
  
Jet looked to her, surprised. It shouldn't have been _that_ easy. "Where?"  
  
Ed pointed out at the starboard window. "There!"  
  
There it was indeed. It was a pretty small ship, resembling the _Redtail_ slightly in its round shape. One thing was for sure though, whoever was piloting it was insane. "The hell!" he exclaimed as the small craft flew over the _Hammerhead_, barely missing the window by mere meters.  
  
"Howdy, Cowboy," a voice said with a light tone on the radio. "Heard you were looking for me."  
  
Jet stared at the radio. "How the hell did you--?"  
  
"Oooooh...." Ed interrupted, leaning in front of Jet to look at the radio intently as if she could see who it was on the other side. "Anti! It is Anti-person!"  
  
The man on the radio chuckled. "And you must be Radical Edward. Pleasure to finally meet you."  
  
"Mm-hm!" Ed agreed before she was shoved back.  
  
"What is this?" Jet demanded, looking from the radio to Ed and back. "A hacker's guild?"  
  
"You could say that," the man agreed before clearing his throat. "Actually, I heard you were looking for me and caught a glance of your files. Nice ship you got there. The name suits it."  
  
"So that's how you make phoney IDs," commented Jet, mostly to himself.  
  
"One of my many gifts," was the witty response. "Now, I'll let you catch me on one condition."  
  
Jet gave the radio a curious look. "What's that?" It wasn't everyday that a Bounty made a deal with the Hunter...  
  
...well, yeah it was, but still, this was a pretty unique Bounty.  
  
"You have three crew members, correct?" asked the Bounty before listing the names, "Radical Edward, Faye Valentine, and Spike Spiegel."  
  
"What's it to you?" Jet asked suspiciously.  
  
"I'll let you capture me," the man continued, sounding strangely mischievous though it wasn't obvious in his tone, "_if_ you allow me to see Spike Spiegel and speak with him alone."  
  
The request itself was enough to put Jet in an uneased state. Whenever Spike was involved with something, it was never good. "Sorry to tell you this, but he's back on the _Bebop_," he told the man. "He shouldn't be awake for another couple of hours."  
  
"Glad to hear he gave you trouble," the Bounty said with amusement.  
  
"Now look," Jet said seriously, his tone hardening. "I don't know who the hell you are, but you seem to know Spike. Why should I trust you?"  
  
"Aw, come on, Cowboy," the man answered drawlingly. "I'm surprised the boy's still alive--what with what happened."  
  
Something was tapping his head, and Jet turned to see that it was Ed. "Anti-person from Mars, Jet-person," she said with a serious expression, which didn't help at all.  
  
"Really?" he said, looking from Ed to the radio. Nothing good came from Mars anymore. Not when it involved Spike. "From the Syndicate?"  
  
"Hell no!" the man immediately denied. "I'd never join them, Cowboy." His tone took a thoughtful air as he then muttered, "Too bad the kid never thought that way."  
  
Jet looked over to Ed, who was already into her computer again and wasn't paying attention, before turning back to the radio, sighing and rubbing his brow. "Fine," he finally said, his voice becoming firm as he continued, "but remember that you're going to the police once you're done talking with Spike."  
  
"Sure thing. Don't have much left to live for. Might as well be turned in."  
  
Jet paused for a moment. "I think, until I know more, that you're why Spike always talked like he did."  
  
The man chuckled. "Go on ahead, Cowboy."  
  
  
  
  
Faye looked up as she heard the tell-tale sounds of someone coming from the hangar. Ed came in first, bursting through the doorway and running down the stairs to sit in her usual spots where Ein was lying. "Jet?" Faye asked when the elder man came in. "I thought you wouldn't be back yet."  
  
"Got a surprise." The surprise then decided to walk in.  
  
Faye rose an eyebrow at the sight of the elder man standing behind Jet. "Brought the Bounty home?" she asked with some amusement.  
  
"Anti-person comes to see Spike-person!" Ed shouted from her spot, waking Ein in the process.  
  
Faye blinked in slight surprise. "Oh, that explains the tranquilizer."  
  
Now it was Jet's turn to look surprised. "How--?"  
  
The woman rolled her eyes, tossing a small, miniature dart at Jet, who caught it with ease. "I'm not an idiot," she said simply.  
  
"Ah," the Bounty commented with a bit a smile, "so _this_ is Faye Valentine."  
  
A bit of a smile found its way onto Faye's face. "Glad you've heard of me," she said, always happy to have people notice her.  
  
"How long has it been?" Jet asked, turning the Huntress' attention toward the couch, where he was studying the unconscious Spike.  
  
"Five hours, I think." She sat up and stretched, commenting, "He's boring when he's just lying there, you know. And for once, he's not a mummie."  
  
"Mummie! Mummie-Spike-person!" Ed exclaimed randomly.  
  
Jet shook his head with amusement before announcing, "I'm making dinner. Watch over these three, will you?"  
  
Faye sighed. "Stuck baby-sitting again," she muttered before turning her attention to the Bounty, "So, what're you in for?"  
  
The man shrugged. "Forgury, fraud, a small case of murder..."  
  
"Interesting," said Faye, remembering hearing this information from when Ed had looked up that information on a Bounty, "and you're what? Forty?"  
  
"Sixty-nine, actually."  
  
An eyebrow raised in surprise. "Sure," she said before looking back to the yellow couch and saying, "Ed, get away from Spike. He's going to be majorly pissed when he gets up."  
  
"Edward thinks Spike-person won't be," the young hacker said, peering closer at the green-haired man rather than listen to Faye's command.  
  
"Oh, really?" Faye questioned half-heartedly. "Why?"  
  
"Anti-person is here!" was the quick answer before the redheaded girl tumbled away from the couch.  
  
"Huh?" Faye asked with some confusion. That was when she noticed that the Bounty had moved from his standing position near the hangar and was now leaned over against the unconscious Bounty Hunter on the yellow couch.  
  
"Well," he commented lightly, "I can tell he's been through a lot."  
  
Faye felt her eye twitch slightly in annoyance. "What was your first clue?" she asked coolly.  
  
The Bounty looked to her and frowned. "Don't feel so irritated, Ms. Valentine. I know that you must hate what he's done to himself, but that's just the point. He did it to himself."  
  
Faye looked away from him, sticking her nose into the air, though she felt more annoyed than indignant. "You have no right to talk this way about either of us," she said stiffly.  
  
"Protective, eh?" questioned the Bounty, chuckling. "Are you the same way when he's awake?"  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about," the Huntress said before turning away from the Bounty to work on her nails some. The Bounty, however, hadn't yet finished what he had been saying.  
  
"Here's some advice," the old man said, "don't push him." At a narrowed-eyed look from Faye, he continued, ignoring the look, "he's still recovering and shouldn't be pressured, but of course if you wait too long, he might just regress, if you know what I mean."  
  
Faye opened her mouth to speak, when Ed exclaimed, "Spike-person's awaaaaaake!" She turned to look at the couch to see that the young hacker was correct, Spike was regaining consciousness, though as he tried to rub his eyes his limbs seemed to move slowly and jerkily. Effects from the tanquilizer, obviously.   
  
"Not so loud..." he muttered, as he sat up a bit, looking as if he had a hangover.  
  
"About time," Faye said, placing her elbows on her knees and watching him as he looked over to her. "Don't know why Jet used such a strong tranquilizer."  
  
Spike's eyes then hardened as he remembered what had happened before he had been knocked out. "I do," he said shortly, quickly jumping to his feet, stumbling slightly, "because now I'm gonna _kill_ him!"  
  
The Bounty sighed. "Oh, sit down before you embarrass yourself in front of Ms. Faye here and myself," he said loudly, enough to announce his presence.  
  
Spike, however, didn't seem to realize nor care who had spoken, "I didn't ask for your--" He stopped for a moment before turning to the old man with curiosity. "Tony?"  
  
"He was never quick on the pick-up," the old man said with a sigh.  
  
"Now just wait just a minute, Tony," Spike objected sharply. "I was drugged."  
  
The Bounty shrugged. "Doesn't matter. All my lessons...wasted on your idiot mind."  
  
"Hey, wait a minute, damn it! You do damn well to remember that _you_ were the one that insisted!"  
  
"And his temper's atrocious! Worse than ever."  
  
Faye looked curiously at the Bounty, having enough of watching the two argue. "Oh, so he was always this bad?"  
  
The old man nodded slightly. "I think the years of an undisciplined life have also made it worse."  
  
"I _hate_ organization. You _know_ that," Spike immediately said in his defense.  
  
"The Red Dragon then?" Spike didn't answer. "I see..."  
  
"It's an old mistake--"  
  
"Are you kidding?" the old man demanded loudly. "They want you as _leader_! Mao had planned to have you be his heir; but you went and did that crazy scheme, and that monstosity you once called 'friend' took charge! You killed him and now they are in the belief that Mao was wise to have chosen you. The Dragon is still very much a part of who you _are_, who you _were_, and who you will _become_."  
  
Faye stared at the man for a moment, surprised by how much he knew about Spike's time in the Syndicate. Then her attention went to Spike, who was glaring at the man with a look of almost anger. Was that look directed at the man or what the man had said? Was everything the man said true? Faye knew somewhat about what had happened between Vicious and Spike while Spike was in the Syndicate, but had Spike really been the next in line?  
  
"You obviously don't know me very well anymore, Tony," Spike said lowly, bringing Faye's attention back to the present. "They tried to keep me in once, but I made it out--"  
  
"By the skin of your nose," the man interrupted.  
  
"Plenty of skin left to lose," Spike countered.  
  
"Even if it belongs to another?"  
  
That brought a silence upon the two men, who were watching one another, neither breaking contact with their gazes...  
  
...then Jet entered. "Dinner's ready, everyone--" He stopped himself as he saw what was happening. Surprisingly, after this interruption the younger man in the staring contest yielded and then backed off, stalking off. "Spike?" Jet asked as his partner retreated.  
  
"...what brought that all on?" was the first thing Faye asked.  
  
"It was a test," the Bounty said simply.  
  
Jet's brow furrowed in confusion. "A _what_?"  
  
"Sure sounded like an argument to me," Faye muttered, eyeing where Spike had exited the room.  
  
The old man nodded. "That was also the test."  
  
"Did he pass?" she asked, curiously, her attention now on him.  
  
"Hm..." muttered the Bounty, "I'm not certain. He's much more defensive than before, but he is also better with his points."  
  
"What the hell?" Jet asked, still confused. "Why test him?"  
  
The man sighed. "Obviously, he's never told you. I was his...hm...I suppose you could say mentor. About twenty-so years ago, I caught him trying to pick-pocket a man. He was about...oh...seven or eight at the time. It was raining, I remember that."  
  
Faye muttered, "The story of Spike's life: it's always raining."  
  
"Oh, I'm sure the sun's sure to shine," the man said with a light tone. "Continuing: I taught him all I knew to help him survive in the life he was to live. He was an odd one. Watched Bruce Lee movies."  
  
Faye snorted. "Yeah, that sounds like him."  
  
"Now I feel kind of bad," Jet said, scratching his bald head, forgetting that he was in his frilly apron again.  
  
The man chuckled lightly. "Don't worry, Cowboy. He probably wouldn't care if I went and turned myself in."  
  
"He was pretty upset that you had a Bounty," Jet said with a bit of confusion, clearly not understanding how he should be feeling about the situation.  
  
"Hmph," said the man haughtily. "More like upset that there was still someone left alive that knew him the way I do."  
  
Faye nodded in agreement. "That sounds like him." She paused. "...I think."  
  
Jet sighed, "Well, we'd better get eating."  
  
"What's for--"   
  
"FOOD!" Ed shouted, running to the kitchen.  
  
"--dinner?" Faye finished asking as she stood, ignoring Ed's interruption.  
  
"Tofu and bell peppers."  
  
The Huntress' face turned sour. "Should've known." She looked to the old man. "You should be careful with Jet's cooking."  
  
"What are you talking about? Tofu and bell peppers is a delicacy." With that the Bounty went on into the kitchen as if it was completely normal for a captured criminal to be walking, talking, and eating amongst the people who had captured him.  
  
Again Faye rose an eyebrow in a curious look. "This explains a lot."  
  
  
  
  
**_Coming Episode:_**  
  
  
  
  
Faye: The best way to describe life is to compare it to a song. Songs tend to have repeats and seems to want to go on forever...then it ends. Only it never truly ends. Not when there are people listening. The final chord struck can leave a lasting impression on them that allows them to carry on the song and never let it end. Next episode: Song That Never Ends. Sometimes it's best to have start back at the beginning.  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
_Author's Note:_ Wow, I actually got this chapter out. ^.^ Go me! Anyway, this chapter probably isn't very well written...I wasn't exactly very inspired but I was wanting to update this fic, so I wrote up what I wrote. ^.^" Hope you liked this chapter! ^.~!  
  
_Notes:_ The name Antoni was inspired by my writing this when discussing Shakespeare's _Julius Caesar_ in class (MONTHS ago). Don't ask me why I thought to put Antoni as a name...I just liked it ^.^ 


	4. Session 3: Song That Never Ends

  
  
  
  
  
**Session #3**  
  
  
  
  
It was later that night and the entire _Bebop_ was silent. Jet was in the kitchen cleaning up the mess that had been made by Ed and Ein, who were banned from the kitchen and forbidden to leave the living area...well, Ed was still in the living area; the meat on four legs was hiding from sight as he was in fear of what she would do to him if she should ever find him. The thought brought a bit of a smile to her face before she remembered what else had happened.   
  
The Bounty Antoni Bevelt had disappeared from the scene as soon as the stupid mutt and its owner, Ed, distracted Jet and her long enough. It was as if they had the whole thing planned out. While this got her royally pissed at them--the dog _especially_--Jet had only sighed, shrugged, and said that Bevelt couldn't have gone far. While this had caught her attention long enough for Ein to make his get-away, Jet didn't enlighten her with the information that lead him to that conclusion.  
  
And now, here she was, wandering the halls as she tended to do whenever she needed to have time think. She didn't like where her thoughts were taking her.  
  
The topic of everyone's discomfort here on the _Bebop_. The reason why she started this annoying habit of walking down the empty halls of the large ship during the nights. The one person who had managed to turn their lives upside down when he left and yet made everything make sense when he came back.  
  
Spike Spiegel. The man who could just be known as the bane of her existance.  
  
Ever since that 'test' of Bevelt's in the living area of the _Bebop_, Spike hadn't shown his face and that had made Faye wonder even more about the words that had been exchanged between the two men, former mentor and student...  
  
...now that was something that sounded completely weird. Spike have a mentor?   
  
Scratch that thought. Someone actually _wanted_ to be his mentor?  
  
Well, that didn't change anything. It just made her wonder more about the enigma that was Spike. It was as if whenever she learned something else about him, there was just a thousand more questions that needed answering. Like, had he really been the next in line for the Red Dragon? And if he had, why give it up? Was it just because of Julia? Because he had wanted to escape Vicious' wrath for betraying him?   
  
Just thinking about this made her head hurt. Why was she even trying to find out more about him anyway? Why should she care? Hadn't he left them one year ago? Left them to follow the past to its death? Follow Julia to hers? Why the hell was she thinking about the asshole who broke apart their lives on the _Bebop_?  
  
...because she cared, she knew. And it was hell that she cared for the stupid lunkhead who acted as though returning from certain death after a year was the most natural thing in the world to do. Cared for a man who could care less about her.   
  
Wasn't that the story of her life...  
  
No need to continue on that train of thought. Something else was bothering her about that arguement she had witnessed in the living area. Spike yielding to Bevelt.  
  
Spike did not _yield_ for anyone, let alone an old man who made less sense than Spike himself did.  
  
...or perhaps he did make sense. Only to Spike. Only Spike seemed to understand the message Bevelt was sending him when they had that staring contest. That battle of wits. What had Bevelt said before that?  
  
_"By the skin of your nose."  
  
"Plenty of skin left to lose."  
  
"Even if it belongs to another?"_  
  
She paused. What had Spike thought when Bevelt asked that question? Did he think about what had happened to Julia? How Julia had taken the bullet because he was trying to run from the Syndicate, run from Vicious? Or had it been _to_ Vicious? Or, maybe, could he have actually considered the members of the rag-tag _Bebop_ crew of misfits?  
  
She shook her head. That was just ridiculous. Since when did he start to care anyway? What, did he suddenly grow a heart while he was away? Suddenly realize that he had left them to die for nothing? Realize that the past was dead but he wasn't? What the hell kind of an idiot did he take her for, anyway?  
  
It was all an act. That was what it was. That's what it had to have been. An act.   
  
Just why the hell was she _still_ thinking about the stupid asshole lunkhead when she had _specifically_ thought to herself that she _didn't_ want to think about him?! She didn't need to listen to these thoughts of hers! She didn't need _this_!  
  
Almost as if echoing her thoughts, his voice suddenly drifted into her hearing, "...don't need to listen to this--"  
  
"That is where you're wrong. You always only listen to half of what was said, leaving the rest to imagination. Will you listen for once?" Bevelt's voice interrupted, agitated and tight, almost as if he was becoming tired of the way Spike was speaking to him.  
  
Curious about what they were talking about, Faye couldn't help but to continue to come closer to the entrance of the hangar, where Bevelt and Spike's...discussion was taking place.   
  
"I don't want to, and I don't _have_ to." Spike voice was flat, cold, toneless. Tell-tale signs that he was becoming angered with the old man, angered at the fact that he was being forced into speaking. Faye knew he was being forced because Spike wouldn't have spoken if he could have helped it. Just like how he used to be.   
  
He never changed.  
  
"No, you don't," Bevelt conceded as Faye leaned up against the cool metal wall outside of the hangar, ears carefully trained to listen to every single syllable that was spoken, "but it would be best if you did. You're still confused about what is reality and what isn't. You're life is built on so many lies that you cannot possibly know where it even began."  
  
That caught her attention. Living a life on lies, right, Spike? That was something she never considered. Living a life in mystery, she could always assume with the way he never spoke about himself. But lies? Things were definitely becoming interesting with this newest Bounty.  
  
  
  


**Song That Never Ends**

  
  
  
  
She leaned to the right a little to see what was going on inside the hangar. As it turned out, the two men were having a stand-off, eyes never breaking contact and stances in a defensive position.  
  
...or maybe it was just Spike who was in a defensive stance.  
  
"I know the difference between dreams and reality--" Spike began to say, only to be interrupted by Bevelts questioning expression.  
  
"Do you?" the old man inquired seriously. "Who are you? Who are you with? Where are you? Who do you want? How long have you known them?" His eyes narrowed slightly as though he was trying to see what the younger man was thinking. "Until you can answer all of those, you don't know the difference between night and day."  
  
Faye's brow furrowed. What the hell kind of questions were those? They were so simple to answer it was laughable.   
  
The former student of Bevelt's, however, didn't seem to think this was so humorous. "This is ridiculous!" he exclaimed, breaking from the false calm he had been using. Faye could only blink in surprise.   
  
Spike hadn't actually shouted once since he returned to the _Bebop_. In fact, when she actually thought about it, the lunkhead was a lot more quiet than he used to be. No...he was quiet before as well, but he never seemed so...expressionless, so...hollow. Yes, that was the word. Hollow. Before, even though he acted as though he could care less about life, even though he acted extremely distant and reserved...he had never been _hollow_. Empty.   
  
This realization made a shiver go up her spine. Perhaps he had changed...  
  
Spike continued to shout, "I'm a grown man! I don't need anymore lessons from you!"  
  
"Oh, really?" questioned Bevelt shrewdly. "Answer the questions then."  
  
There was a long pause, and for a moment, Faye wondered if Spike was ever going to answer.  
  
Then he spoke, voice tired as though he had used all of his energy shouting at the old man, "I am myself, a person. I'm with only myself and you, at the moment. I am on the living plane, onboard a ship in space. I want--" He stopped.  
  
Faye wondered, why had he stopped? What had the question been again? What--no, _who_ did he want? If that was the question, why stop?  
  
Bevelt, who had been nodding along with the answers, paused and then looked up with an amused look in his dark brown eyes. "Oh, couldn't do it, eh? And you were doing so well."  
  
"Shut up."  
  
The slightly shorter, grey-haired man shook his head, humor still in his elder face. "You have much to learn, but I cannot teach a floundering bird how to fly! Get yourself out of the water and dry off. It's time to use those wings of yours for flight, not swimming."  
  
Spike didn't reply for a moment. "...you're friends with Laughing Bull, aren't you?"  
  
"And if I am?" Bevelt asked with an indignant sniff before giving the younger man a calloused, pointed look. "He's got a good observation of you, a bird who struggles to swim with an aquatic creature and ultimately drowns. Well, you've drowned twice because of that creature. Time to get out of the water and into the air, where you belong."  
  
Spike sighed and leaned against the wall he was standing next to, rubbing his head. "All this symbolism's hurting my head," he muttered.  
  
"You're just trying to discourage me," said Bevelt, ignoring his former student's weariness. "Oh, don't worry, I know you can fly. Your 'broken wing' isn't fooling _me_ as it has many others."  
  
"How 'bout we stop with the symbolic double-meanings?" Spike suggested gruffly, giving his former mentor a narrowed-eyed look.  
  
Again Bevelt gave an indignant sniff. "I happen to like it, thank you very much."  
  
"Well, I don't, thank you very much."  
  
"Are you mocking me?"  
  
"...nah. I'm too tired."  
  
And he did sound tired. Not tired in the sense that he was in need of sleep. Tired...tired in the sense that he didn't want to continue on. Didn't want to keep on keeping up with what he had been given with this other chance at life.  
  
...tired of acting as though he cared.  
  
Bevelt didn't seem to come to the same conclusion Faye had and merely chuckled lowly at the statement before reaching up and patting the tall Bounty Hunter on the shoulder. "You may still have much to learn, but you have certainly learned a lot since you left."  
  
Spike gave him a lopsided grin. "Well, I couldn't stay seventeen forever, you know."  
  
"No, I don't suppose you can." The two of them seemed to come to the conclusion that it was time to leave, and Spike pushed himself away from the wall to leave when Bevelt spoke again, "Some advice, though, Spike."  
  
Spike turned to him. "Huh? What?"  
  
A wry grin appeared on the old man's face before he sobered and seemed to take on a serious air. "Try not to lose another life. A man can only die once in reality--"  
  
In a typical act of his, Spike closed his eyes and had a ghost of smile on his face. That mysterious, knowing, smirk-like smile that always came whenever someone expressed their concern for him. That always came because he knew that even though they were concerned, he himself wasn't. "Well, for now, I'm still a tiger-striped cat with nine lives, and I'm on my fourth one."  
  
Bevelt didn't seem to notice the expression once again, and Faye had to wonder if he even saw it. "Hm...you're pretty good with the symbolic meanings when you want to be," he commented lightly.  
  
"I learn only from the best," Spike replied before the two of them began to walk toward the doorway Faye was at. Faye immediately pressed herself against the wall as she heard Spike then ask, "So how did you get away from Jet and Faye?"  
  
There was a low chuckle. "Edward helped. She caused a mess in the kitchen and got that dog to do...something. Heh, nice bunch you've got here."  
  
"Well, it was just me and Jet--"   
  
"Jet and I--"  
  
"_Me_ and Jet," Spike reiterated pointedly. "Then we got Ein by accident--"  
  
"You have horrible oratory skills," Bevelt said disdainfully, interrupting the younger man yet again.  
  
"Look," Spike replied with annoyance lacing his voice, "you can correct how I live or how I act, but don't you go correcting how I talk."  
  
"You'll never get anything otherwise." Faye rolled her eyes. Did the old man have to bicker with whatever Spike said? She could understand Spike's annoyance, though she honestly found the lanky man's reaction to be fairly humorous and entertaining for her.  
  
They both exited the hanger, luckily turning the opposite way from Faye's hiding place. "Anyway," Spike continued, sounding lighter than he had sounded during the previous conversation. Faye narrowed her eyes. It was all a part of the act. The ever-continuing on that he always played. "Like I was saying: me and Jet found Ein and then we ran into Faye at a Casino--"  
  
"Jet and I," Bevelt said once more and added before Spike could say anything, "Gambling?"  
  
Faye could imagine the sour look on his face as he responded, "Damn it, Tony. I'm not eleven."  
  
The old man waved off the annoyed words carelessly as they continued down the hall. Spike put his hands his pockets and hunched his shoulders slightly, scuffing his shoes against the metal flooring as his former mentor said calmly, "Of course not. Continue, please."  
  
Spike was quiet for a second before he finally said with some amusement in his voice, "You know, you're annoying when you want to be."  
  
Bevelt shrugged. "It's a gift..." he said before their voices became too soft for her to hear.  
  
Faye continued to lean against the wall, staring at the path the two men had taken before she looked up at the ceiling, resisting the urge to release a sigh. Nothing had changed. Everything was the same. Even she couldn't admit to trying to act like something had happened...because it seemed like nothing had happened at all. They were all back...on one ship...and yet they still weren't together...in one place.  
  
  
  
  
"Had your talk with Spike?" he asked, looking over to the older man, who sat himself into the chair, while Jet himself was sitting on the couch that usually served as Spike's bed.  
  
It was late--well into the night, and Spike, Faye, and Ed had all gone their separate ways. Faye--to her room, Spike--to somewhere that even Antoni had no clue about, and Ed--to her own bed on top of the refrigerator. How the kid could sleep on it was beyond him, but at that moment, he was more concerned with the man who now sat across from him.  
  
A man who was a part of a dangerous past that had killed his partner one too many times for Jet's taste.  
  
"Yep," Antoni said lightly, reminding Jet of Spike back before the craziness really started. Oh, yeah...he remembered that Spike and couldn't help but to wince with the thought of all the Bounty money blown because of damages...  
  
"Good," he responded, standing, hoping that Antoni hadn't seen the wince. "Ready to go?"  
  
There was only one answer that Jet was expecting. "Nope."  
  
He sighed and sat himself on the couch again, leaning forward and propping his elbow on his knee and his chin on his hand. "I knew there was a catch," he muttered bitterly to himself, hating the idea of having this man on board his ship anymore. Memories were bad enough, but when the real thing came along, then the memories just come back more and more until they were all stuck back in the situation they had gotten themselves out of not too long ago.  
  
Antoni chuckled, not seeming to notice his dark thoughts. "Sorry, Black," he said before sobering some and continuing, "but you won't be able to hold me if I don't want to be captured. So, I'm kind of a free man on a free ship, right?"  
  
Jet rubbed his face tiredly. He needed sleep... "I thought you had nothing to live for," he muttered, not looking to Antoni, though he knew what kind of expression the other man had.  
  
It was a almost-pained, almost-saddened look. He knew it was there because that's all there ever was when it came to the memories that haunted Spike's footsteps even in the world of the dead. "I was mistaken," the old Bounty said slowly. "I suppose I still feel that I need to help my former...eh...student, should I say?"  
  
Jet didn't reply.  
  
"You understand what I mean," Antoni continued firmly, making Jet look up at him. "You are concerned for him, and I am very relieved that you are."  
  
Jet furrowed his brow. "Why is that?" he asked, not completely sure what Antoni was getting at.  
  
The old man smiled wistfully as he waved a hand in the air. "It makes me feel as though the Swimming Bird is finally drying his plumage so that he may fly." He paused to look at Jet again with a softened gaze. "I thank you for that, Jet Black. You and the others give him hope."  
  
Hope. Now that was something that was ironic enough to make any non-cynical person laugh their ass off. If they gave Spike any hope whatsoever, the young Bounty Hunter showed no sign of accepting it. He didn't show whether or not he appreciated it, either. Instead, all he did was throw it in their faces that day he left...  
  
He was being bitter, Jet knew, but he couldn't help himself. He had known that one day...Spike would have done it. Would have gone out the way he had. Then again...he hadn't counted on Spike's return, so...maybe...  
  
He sighed, "...I wish that had been enough last time."  
  
  
  
  
Faye woke up late the next morning, wondering around the halls with blurred eyes as she went to the bathroom to take a shower. She hadn't noticed anything around her until she got out of the shower, feeling much better than she had earlier. She was so used to not having much more people wondering the halls that she hadn't brought any extra clothes to change into when she got out of the shower, so she ended up walking back to her room in a towel. Not that she minded, so long as a certain someone stayed out of her sight.  
  
Once changed into her white tank top and blue jean shorts--her more common clothes these days, she headed to the kitchen, only to be distracted by someone humming. She looked around until she realized it was coming from under a stairway. She rolled her eyes before she looked under it and asked with some curiosity, "What are you doing, Ed?"  
  
Ed laughed a little, flinging her hands about in her hyper way before she went back to furiously typing on her computer. "Tell everyone BYE-BYE for Anti-person!"  
  
Faye rose an eyebrow at that before she leaned against the stairs, taking out a cigarette from her 'special' hiding place. "Oh, really?" she asked, now only mildly interested as she stuck the butt of the cigarette inbetween her lips. "Well, you're good at goodbyes, aren't you?"  
  
The hacker girl hummed happily and then laughed, saying, "Edward knows Spike-person kept pinwheely!"  
  
Faye, who was just about to light up, stopped at this. "Pinwheely, huh?" she asked, wondering what Ed was talking about. Apparently, the hacker had given the lunkhead a goodbye gift before departing to Earth.  
  
Ed spun to her, finished with the computer, and nodded enthusiastically. "Mm hmm!" she said brightly before wagging a finger at Faye. "Ed knows he keeps _lotsa_ things!"  
  
This sparked Faye's curiosity more than anything. Who knew Spike would be a pack-rat? "He does, does he?" she asked, not able to help herself. "What kind of things?"  
  
Ed put her index finger to her lips, looking somewhat creepy as she smiled with her internet goggles on. "Sh! Secret!"  
  
The Huntress thought for a moment before brightening as she came up with a way to get the child hacker to tell her this 'secret.' "All right," she said, leaning down to get closer to her. "Tell me, and Spike doesn't have to know--"  
  
"Doesn't have to know what?"  
  
Faye jumped at the sound of his voice, looking up to the top of the stairs to see him watching her coolly, not a care in the world. He had a cigarette smoking from his lips, and he was still wearing that stupid yellow shirt and blue pants. Honestly, Faye wondered, didn't he ever want to dress just a little differently?  
  
Ed then decided to supply Spike with an answer to his question, "Faye-Faye says--!"  
  
Faye slammed a hand against the child's mouth, muffling the words that continued to come even if they could be understood. Laughing a little, the Huntress said up to Spike, "I didn't say anything!" Then her expression turned to annoyance, and she bluntly said, "It's a secret, Spike. I'm sure you know what a secret is."  
  
The Bounty Hunter shrugged. "Whatever."  
  
Faye fumed. She couldn't stand how he just brushed off everything in the world. One of these days--oh, wait. That day had already come--_twice_.  
  
Spike was turning to go when he threw back his message, "Jet wants us all in the living area."  
  
This made the young woman blink in surprise. "Now?"  
  
"No," the lanky man said with a sarcastic touch. "Seventy-two years from now." Then, he walked off, acting as if the conversation had never taken place.  
  
With a puzzled frown on her face, Faye released Ed, who looked up to her curiously and asked, "Tell secret now?"  
  
Faye shook her head. "Later, Ed," she said, more distracted now than before. Jet wanted them all in the living area? When had that ever happen besides a big bounty? As the question plagued her mind, the Huntress headed off to the meeting area, leaving Ed to wonder under the stairs.  
  
"Edward should understand _Bebop-Bebop_ people," the child hacker said with a nod.  
  
  
  
  
By the time the small crew had assembled in the appointed area, Jet still wasn't prepared to say anything. So he let the two other Bounty Hunters squabble some over nothing. Really, it was a lot better than the silence that went on when no one spoke. Just how to explain things...  
  
"Come on, Jet," he heard Faye said with an exasperated-whining tone. "You call us here and don't say anything. What's the deal?"  
  
When he didn't reply, Spike threw in dully, "He looks like someone died again."  
  
"Well, you're still here," Faye responded off-handedly, making Jet's eye tick.  
  
"I didn't mean me--"  
  
"Ooooooooh..." This was a new one. Normally, Ed wasn't involved with conversations between Faye and Spike. No one really wanted to get in between them. One: they both had guns. Two: they both had bad tempers. Three: ...well, Jet could only hope there wasn't a three, but with the way things had changed between the crew since Spike's leaving and returning, he couldn't say there wasn't a third reason.  
  
"What are you doing, Ed?" Spike asked while, Jet saw out of the corner of his eye, looking up at the strange girl to see the top-half of her body perched on top of his head.  
  
In an act that could only suit Edward, the hacker rubbed her cheek against the lanky man's hair with humming in an amused way. "Spike-person have soft lunkhead."  
  
There was only a brief silence as this statement took its sweet time to sink in.  
  
"What?" Spike asked, totally lost with what that meant.  
  
Faye eagerly reached out a hand. "Let me see--"  
  
The Hunter caught it before it could touch him. "Hell _no_. Get _away_ from me," he stated coolly.  
  
The Huntress' eye twitched. "I'm not going to give you the Plague!" she exclaimed, pushing against his hold to try to see if what Ed had stated was true.  
  
Spike ended up having to lean against one side of the couch. "I doubt it," he said, amused. "Should I start 'Ring Around the Rosie'?"  
  
Faye smirked. "Didn't know you were that kind of guy."  
  
"Didn't know you liked touching a guy's hair," Spike responded with a smirk of his own.  
  
The woman's smirk went from amused to predatory. "You're not a guy; you're a lunkhead," she stated before pushing again to get her hand passed his guard. "Now hold still--"  
  
She ended up accidentally falling on top of Spike as the lanky man tried to shove her away. Faye's landing on top of the Hunter did not put him in a good mood. "Get off!" he exclaimed, trying to shove her away still while she stubbornly tried to succeed in her quest.  
  
Then, Ed popped out of nowhere from next to Spike's head, looking to Ein, who stood off to the side, safely out of harm's way. "Do you think Faye-Faye and Spike-person like each other, Ein?"  
  
Again, everyone froze.  
  
Jet rubbed his forehead, knowing the explosion that would happen. That was one thing that was never said around those two. Well, he thought to himself with some amusement, out of the mouths of babes...  
  
**"WHAT?"**  
  
The two of them immediately separated. Faye on one side of the couch and Spike on the other.  
  
"What kind of things have you been hearing!" Faye shouted with an indignant look on her face.  
  
"Really!" Spike agreed before his expression fell into another smirk. "Who'd like a shrew, anyhow?"  
  
Jet mentally shook his head. On with another match...  
  
He'd have to stop this before it escalated...  
  
"A shrew?" Faye demanded, more indignant than before as she glared at the lanky man on the other side of the couch. "Is that what I am?"  
  
Spike pinched his forefinger and thumb together, the digits only being separated by a small space. "In a nutshell," he said with even more amusement, "nicely wrapped."  
  
Faye's eye ticked. "You--!" She lunged at Spike, knocking him back against the couch as they started to actually bicker while physically fighting with each other.  
  
One of them would have pulled out their gun, but Jet interfered with a simple, "Spike."  
  
"Huh?" the other man responded dimly as he looked over to him.  
  
Jet didn't look straight at him and was quiet for a moment before he decided to finally speak, "Antoni's going to be on the _Bebop_ for a while. I want you to make sure he doesn't cause trouble."  
  
"But--"  
  
Now he looked at the younger Bounty Hunter with a mild glare. "I'm sorry," he said in a my-house-my-rules tone, "did that sound like a request?" Jet then looked down as he thought about the next topic. "Faye...get off Spike for a moment, will ya?"  
  
Realizing the position she was in, Faye immediately detached herself from Spike. "Are you assuming something in that head of yours?" she asked Jet with an annoyed look.  
  
"I am," Spike put in, raising a hand as he sat himself up again, the smirk still present on his face. "I'm assuming you eat lead--"  
  
Before this could get into another bickering word-match, Jet snapped, "Knock it off." He then turned to Faye, his expression serious. "Faye, I need to talk to you. Privately." He then looked to Spike. "Spike, take Edward and check on Antoni."  
  
"Bu--" Spike stopped himself before he could finish the objection. What was the use when Jet was giving him that look? "Fine," he grudgingly agreed, standing and walking off, Ed following him without being prompted.  
  
  
  
  
The two of them walked down the halls of the _Bebop_ in silence before Ed finally spoke up in an unusually serious manner, "Is Spike-person mad at Edward?"  
  
The question made Spike stop and then look to her. The hacker looked very much like a child that had done something wrong, circling her toe against the ground. It seemed like Ed was actually someone who could see that not all things were the same. Kind of strange, since Spike was so used to having everything as they were.  
  
"No, Ed," he said seriously before a faintly amused look came onto his face. He wasn't mad at Ed. Who could be, really? Well, annoyed--yes, but the terms 'mad' or 'angry' or 'at wits end' would be all for Faye. Ed--well...Ed was Ed. Not much more to it than that.  
  
"In fact," he said, looking around for a moment in a casual way before he leaned forward, putting himself on her level, "I never got a chance to say this, but between you and me, I kind of missed your wacky self."  
  
It was tough to admit it, but it was true. When Ed had first left the _Bebop_, it was a sign for him that things were coming to an end. Faye had gone, too, so what else could he think? Then everything went to hell, and during that year of recovery, Spike had actually found himself missing the insanity that could only be known as the crew of the _Bebop_. Kind of sad, really, seeing as he never saw himself as a person that would get attached to something...  
  
Ed smiled at him with that giant, cheesy grin that sometimes made Spike wonder about her actual sanity--as messed up as everyone else's was. "Edward glad! Ed missed Spike-person, too!"  
  
"Okay, good," Spike said before straightening up. He then looked to her with a light, devious grin on his face. "Now, remember: just between you and me. I've got an image to uphold for a while longer."  
  
There was no way he would let Jet or Faye see the change in him. Not when they themselves didn't seem all that different. That wouldn't be fair, now would it? Or maybe...it was that he was too used to being how he was...and to acknowledge the change...  
  
That would change everything.  
  
"Secret?" Ed asked curiously.  
  
"You got it." Just another secret on top of all the others. What could one more hurt?  
  
Ed laughed and latched onto his leg, making Spike feel more uncomfortable than he already was. Kids still did that to him. That hadn't changed a bit. "Yay! 'Nother secret!"  
  
That reminded him... "Hey, about that..." he said, prying the child hacker from his leg, "What were you and Faye talking about?"  
  
Ed shook her finger at Spike. "No, no," she said lightly. "Bad Spike-person. Not Spike-person's secret."  
  
Well, at least he wasn't the only one.  
  
"Ah, never mind," he said, brushing off the topic as he then continued the journey to the back of the _Bebop_ where he was almost sure Antoni would be. "I'll find out in other ways."  
  
  
  
  
His usual training area was darker than he would like, but that was always a sure sign that Antoni was there. "Antoni?" he asked, but when he received no answer, he called, "Hey, Tony!"  
  
"You're too loud," Antoni's voice said, coming from Spike's left.  
  
"What the hell are you--" Spike began to ask before he saw Antoni's silhouette move swiftly and efficiently. Then, the lights came on, courtesy of Ed. Spike felt crushed at what he saw.  
  
Antoni stood in front of a demolished bag, sand continuing to pour from it as the old man calm himself from his workout. Then he turned to the distraught Bounty Hunter. "Now. What is it you wanted?"  
  
Spike could only stare. "...my...punching bag..."  
  
...Antoni had killed it!  
  
Ed summed up his feelings pretty nicely, "Edward thinks Spike-person loved baggy."  
  
He couldn't help it that he felt that way. He'd had that bag for a long time, and it had always managed to stand up against his attacks, no matter how angry or frustrated he was. And now, Antoni killed it...  
  
The old man turned to the broken bag and snorted. "Such material possessions."  
  
Spike's eye twitched as he felt the common annoyance rise. "Couldn't you have killed Faye's ship or something?" he demanded, hating that Antoni always did this. It was all a test to him. "Anything _not_ mine?"  
  
"You big baby," Antoni said with a frown as he looked back to his former student. "I'll fix it later. It will be better than before, if you want."  
  
Spike immediately shook his head and held out his hands. "No, no! I can do it myself!"  
  
If he let Antoni do it, he'd end up with something that he'd continuously break his limbs on. That was one difference between the two of them. Antoni had a much more brawny figure than Spike and relied on strength more than he did. Mostly he used speed and agility to defeat his oponents.  
  
"Good," Antoni stated, turning to grab a towel he had set aside. "Jet speaking with Ms. Faye."  
  
It wasn't a question, but Spike answered anyway, "Yeah, and it's just Faye, you know."  
  
His former mentor paused from wiping the sweat from his face as he then said with a puzzled look. "She has yet to tell me otherwise," he said, looking carefully to Spike, who was letting his eyes idly wander around the room. "Why? Have you ever called her such?"  
  
At this Spike couldn't help but to roll his eyes. "We met in a _Casino_, Tony. Misses _don't_ go to Casinos."  
  
"You'd be surprised," Antoni murmured before slinging the towel over his shoulder. For such an old man, he was in very good shape. "So Ms. Faye is not a Miss, but this other woman...she was?"  
  
Immediately, there was a difference in Spike's stance. He was on the defensive, pulling himself inward and keeping Antoni out and away. "I didn't say that, either," he said calmly with a cool touch as he walked passed the elder man to take down his broken punching bag.  
  
Antoni was silent for a moment before he said without looking to Spike, "You shouldn't ignore the topic of the woman who had led you to death twice. It is not healthy."  
  
Internally, Spike sighed, growing weary of how this was a topic that they always touched on whenever they spoke with each other. "Could we talk about this later?" he asked dully, carefully lowering the busted bag to the ground.  
  
"Why not now?"  
  
"Because--" Spike said, looking back to the entrance of the room, only to see that his only excuse was blown because a certain someone was missing. "Ed?"  
  
Antoni appeared to amused at this, probably knowing he had his former student caught. "Edward is a very cunning child," he said lightly before looking over to Spike. "You could learn from her."  
  
"Me learn from Ed?" Spike didn't look back to him and was just staring at the broken bag, his mind not on present things.  
  
"Since I have given up on your grammatical errors," Antoni said with a slightly exasperated tone, "let us continue our previous topic--"  
  
"No."  
  
There was a long silence. "What was that?"  
  
Spike stood up straight and looked over to Antoni with dead serious expression. "I said no," he reiterated more firmly to make a point. "You can't get me to talk, and I'm not gonna."  
  
"Ever the rebellious one," his former mentor said, yet again seeming to mistaken his intentions. This wasn't rebellion. This was leaving the past well enough alone. He'd learned too well what happened when someone goes after the past.  
  
But then, Antoni said something that seemed more serious, "You might not talk, but you will listen."  
  
Spike crossed his arms, watching him coolly. "I'd like to see you try and make me."  
  
A small smirk crossed Antoni's face. "Do I hear a challenge?" he asked with an eagerness that only a fighte could show.  
  
Spike barely had time to return the smirk before he had to duck under a fist and throw his leg out to his attacker's gut. Antoni was able to absorb this quicker than Spike had expected and was able to catch the younger man off-guard by throwing his own kick to his chest, knocking him back into the sand. A cloud of dust rose, and Spike had mistakenly opened his eyes during that time, getting some of it in them before he rolled to dodge a punch. He then kicked out again, knocking Antoni back some to allow him some time to get to his feet. Once he was up, he swung his arms toward the elder man's jaw, only to have them caught in the other man's larger hands.  
  
It was a shortly lived fight, and once again, Spike found himself losing to Antoni. Just like the last time they had done this dance. It wasn't a bad thing really. Antoni had more experience, and while Spike was fast, he was still just a bit faster.  
  
So that was how Spike ended up quickly having one of his arms behind his back, between his shoulder blades, with Antoni's strong arm around his neck.  
  
"Good. Good," Antoni said before releasing Spike, who stepped away from him, just a little sour that he had been caught like that. "You've really taken Bruce Lee to heart, eh?"  
  
"Couldn't afford not to," Spike responded, lifting his left hand to rub at his eyes, which were now full of sand.  
  
It was stopped, however, by the elder martial artist grabbing his wrist and turning it slightly. The two of them were silent with what was shown.  
  
"...what is this?" Antoni asked quietly, looking up to Spike, who carefully twisted his arm from his grasp and rubbed at his eyes some.  
  
"Nothing," he answered off-handedly as he started to head out of the room, needing to clean out the sand from his eyes. "Something I got a long time ago."  
  
The elder man's voice grimly responded, "Battle scars aren't nearly so neat."  
  
Spike paused in the doorway, a smirk coming on his face as he had thought the same thing many times before. "I'll be sure to remember that next time," he said to his former mentor before he then rubbed at his eyes again. "I'm going to go take a shower before the sand damages my eyes."  
  
Then he left without another word, without an explanation. Antoni already knew, he knew. So...what was the point, really? Of explaining it all?  
  
  
  
  
**_Coming Episode:_**  
  
  
  
  
Jet: The melody of the conflict rises with the rhythm of trouble. It's one thing to let go of the past. It's another to have the past let go of you. The past can never truly die, only become forgotten. To face it once more is to have it remembered and allowing it to become free. Next episode: _Rising Drum Beats_. Going forward sometimes means you have to go backward.  
  
  


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_Author's Notes:_ -.-' Badly done chapter. Screw it. I wanted to update this thing :p Anyway, the characters might be a little out of character (-prays that they aren't-) but I promise I'll fix it if they really seem that way. I don't want them to be that way! -winces- Oh, well...-sighs-  
  
_Notes:_ I actually cut a whole scene from this session because, one: it took up space and two: it didn't really have a purpose. So...that would be it, really. 


End file.
